Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Official Student Newspaper of Henry M. Gunn High School

The Oracle

Fall sports stay strong, hopes high for post-season success

Boys’ Water Polo

With a great 5-0 record to start the season, boys’ water polo is ready to win California Coast Sectionals (CCS) this year. “We’ve been defending our pool and we’re undefeated at home,” coach Matt Johnson said.

The team’s scoring ability has helped them tremen- dously so far. “We [have] a lot of offensive players; just a lot of naturally talented guys that can put the ball away,” Johnson said.

The team also has great chemistry. “We mesh well to- gether as a team; there is a true sense of unity that I have never felt from a team before,” junior Ari Wayne said.

This team hopes to win CCS. “Considering we are 5-0, so far and have played our toughest competition, we believe we can do it,” Wayne said.

Boys’ water polo will take on Los Altos High School

on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 3:30 p.m.

—Henry Siu

Girls’ Water Polo

The leaves may be starting to fall, but the girls’ water polo team stays on top. Currently undefeated, the Lady Titans hope to keep up their efficiency as a team until the end of the season—only a month away.

Their domination this season leaves room for experi- mentation in the pool. “Since we have gone undefeated we try to get creative on offense,” senior Lauren Johnson said. “We create new challenges for ourselves.”

The team won their first game against Palo Alto High School with a whopping 13 goals to one. Despite this success, the team refuses to let its guard down. “Being the league champions two years in a row puts a target on our backs,” senior Caroline Anderson said. “Our team needs to go into every game ready to play.”

The team’s next game is at Los Altos High School on

Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6:45 p.m.

—Lena Campbell

Girls’ Golf

Girls’ golf had an incredible season thus far, re- maining undefeated. However, senior Jayshree Sarathy believes there’s always room for improvement. “We’re definitely working on our short game because that’s where you actually score a lot and you insulate your scoring range,” she said.

Last year, the girls’ golf team came in second in the CCS and played at the Northern California Region- als. “We finished second in CCS last year by just one point, and went to Norcals so [qualifying for CCS] is definitely a possibility this year,” Sarathy said.

Currently, the girls’ golf team is leading in the league and has one more match to determine whether they will move on to CCS.

Girls’ golf has their next game on Wednesday, Oct.

16 at 6:30 p.m.

—Misheel Enkhbat

Girls’ Tennis

As the girls’ tennis team advances further into the season, they are focusing on one main goal: improve- ment. They are ranked in a higher league this year, meaning the opponents they are now playing are more competitive than before.

However, the girls are more driven than ever. “There are more competitive players, so our goal here is to go out there and try our best each time, try to improve with every match that we play, and go out onto the courts with a positive attitude,” senior Stephanie Zhang said.

The team’s coach, Jim Gorman, agrees with the girls’ goal. “We’re in a really tough league, we play really tough teams, so there is nothing to do but get better.” Gorman said.

Girls’ tennis has their next game against Mountain View on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 3:15 p.m. at Cubberly.

—Yuki Klotz-Burwell

Girls’ Volleyball

Girls’ volleyball holds a 2-1 record and is ranked third in the Santa Clara Valley League (SCVAL) De Anza Division. They hold a 6-7 overall record.

After a disheartening loss to Los Altos, coach Craig Bankowski believes that the team must step up their game to beat Los Gatos and the number-one-ranked Homestead team. “Our team needs to understand that they are a championship team,” he said.

The Lady Titans have had many accomplishments so far. They placed in both the Spikefest and Cupertino Classic tournaments in September. In league games, they defeated Mountain View and shut out Monta Vista two days later.

On Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 6:45 p.m. Gunn will head across town to face off against rival Palo Alto, who is

ranked fourth.

—Ian Cramer

Football

The football team is doing its best to keep up with the El Camino division for this year. However, coach Shinichi Hirano has higher standards and believes that the team needs more experience.

With a 1-4 record, the team is trying to keep up with the competition. According to Hirano, the team has to be be less afraid to get hurt. He also wants the team to act as a more cohesive group. “We talk about one big family conquering a mission,” Hirano said. “We rely on each other to conquer our goal.”

Co-captain Sean Lydster thinks that the varsity team should make fewer errors in an actual game. “We have to limit our mistakes,” Lydster said. “If [the players] do what they’re supposed to do, the plan will be successful.”

The team has their next game at Los Altos on Satur-

day, Oct. 19 at 1:30 p.m.

—Aayush Dubey

Cross Country

The cross country team has participated in three league meets and two invitational meets, Stevenson and Stanford. In all five, the varsity girls’ team placed within the top five. The first meet began three weeks into the season, which stirred some dispute from the coaches. According to cross country coach Patricia Plumer, many teams were not prepared. “A lot of coaches were concerned that most athletes ‘would be not be ready for Crystal Springs’ three weeks into the season,” Plumer said. “One athlete even fainted during a race.”

Both boys’ and girls’ teams have been doing well according to Plumer. She has especially high hopes for the girls’ division.

“There would have to be a very weird sequence of events for the girls to not appear at CCS,” Plumer said.

The boys’ team, however, has room for improvement.” The boys team will have a tougher road to CCS; it will take some great racing and a little luck, but it is definitely doable,” Plumer said.

Senior Dillon Hu has also seen the improvement in the team overall. “We have a very deep girls’ team,” he said. “Our guys team is much better than last year and hopefully we can make [CCS] for guys.”

The next cross country meet will be on Friday, Oct. 18, at

Toro Regional Park in Monterey.

—Alex Man

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